Printed circuit boards, otherwise known as boards or cards, serve as a basic framework for assembling electrical components into a useful electronic device. In a typical electronic device, electronic components are mounted onto a surface of the board. Metal lead wires from the component are then soldered to conductive traces on the board. Soldering the leads to the board serves two purposes: first, it secures the electronic component to the printed circuit board and, second, it ensures a good electrical connection between the electronic component and the conductive path.
In many electronic devices, such as computers, the electronic components are mounted onto several printed circuit boards. For the electronic components to perform their desired function, each of the boards must be electrically coupled to other elements of the electrical system of the device. Typically, a printed circuit board contains an electrical connector that is configured to matingly engage a corresponding electrical connector within the device. When mated, the electrical connectors create conductive paths between the two electrical connectors. Typically, electrical connectors are configured in a male-female configuration, i.e., a male connector is physically inserted into a female connector.
Circuit boards are installed in electronic systems in a variety of orientations. The selected orientation may be based on a number of factors, including physical constraints required by the device and the intended function of the circuit board. The physical constraints of the device also may make removal and installation of the circuit board difficult and/or time consuming. For example, many electronic devices, such as servers, are typically mounted in vertical rack-mounted systems. The device would have to be removed from the rack-mounted system to access the device from the top or the bottom. This gets increasingly difficult as the weight and the height of the device in the rack increases.
Servers typically utilize a mid-plane board that is vertically mounted within a chassis. The mid-plane board is used to electrically couple electronic devices and/or other circuit boards located on the same and opposite sides of the mid-plane board. Typically, the server must be removed from the rack if the mid-plane board is to be removed from the server or installed therein. Those components of the server that may be removed while the server is still mounted in the rack are removed to make the server lighter for easier removal from the rack. The server is then removed from the rack and the mid-plane board is accessed via the top of the chassis. The process is repeated in reverse order to replace the mid-plane board in the server and to reinstall the server in the rack. The process of removing and reinstalling the mid-plane board is time-consuming.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an apparatus that would enable a circuit board to be more easily removed from and replaced in a chassis. This is especially true for circuit boards that are vertically mounted within a chassis and are to be removed from the front or rear of the chassis.